290 Comments

If someone gave an offer sheet (for PK) it is my understanding they would have to give the Canadiens 4 first round draft picks. He’s not worth that, so there is absolutely no need to worry. PK is like a third defenseman. What the Habs really need is a big good guy to move people from in front of Price. Until they get that sort of defenseman it’s the same old, same old. If there is a season, they will finish between 10th and 14th place.

Everyone talking about Gionta being injury prone! Why? Is Crosby injury prone? Crap happens over the length of a career.
If everyone can stay somewhat health including Markov I think the Habs have a nucleus to make the playoffs. I think Gomez is going to Nashville. Why? Nashville needs to make up 15 million to meet the minimum cap with their recent losses and they won’t pick that up on any corner. What UFA’s will want to sign with them now that they’ve more or less imploded. Gomez does 2 things for nashville! Takes up 7.5 million in cap and only costs Nashville 5.5 million this year to fill up space. With a little luck maybe Gomez can re-ignite himself under a great coach who seems to get the best out of his players…….
Go HABS Go

Crosby scores more often and actually fights back, what does Gionta do? Hmmm…..stable pony for Scott Gomez. So we got two mighty smurfs who can’t score, can’t hit, can’t rush the net like Crosby does. When was the last time we actually saw Gionta around the net, or Scott Gomez?

A creak.
The door opens.
He enters the room.
The seats are empty and the lights are down.
“Hello?” … no one answers, but the echo of his voice.
“Sunday afternoon, and I’m the only one with no life!
Let’s have some hockey already!
And here’s hoping that little tyrant doesn’t lock anyone out.”
He turns and exits, the curvature of discouragement in his shoulders.
….heavy sigh….. click.

For those trashing Gionta and saying he is injury prone which means he should be traded.

His past seven years have seen him play 82,62,82,81,61,82 and 31 games. Three significant injuries (groin/broken foot/torn bicep) in eight years is some cause for concern. However, he still has averaged roughly 29/28/56 over the course of his career. As for intangibles, the Habs thought enough of him to make him captain. Not to mention there’s a pretty bog drop off on the depth chart after Cole and Gionta on the RW. None of the guys listed can score like Gionta, even if his output tends to be a bit streaky.

i mentioned injuries in his last 3 seasons. i’m just saying it’s crazy to expect every player to have a career year every year and he’ll be healthy. smaller players tend to take a little more of a beating. i want people to be realistic with gionta and not expect the world from him

notice i didn’t say smaller player only get injured, i said they tend to take more of a beating. skating with you head down ( lindros) is another excellent way of getting hurt( not to mention that i think some of those hits on lindros would be 5-10 game suspensions now).

mksness – My comment really wasn’t directed at you but rather how ever since Gionta’s injury some people have wanted to dump him. Even replace him with Gorges or Cole as captain. I find that laughable after the string of captains we went through years ago. Even to the point where we threw in our captain in the Roy deal. Talk about adding insult to injury (no pun intended).

As for expectations, I’ll take 70 games with 24 goals and 22 assists. 55 points out of Cole will also be just fine.

i think the first 25 games this year will determine the real direction of the habs. if they’re really dogging it early maybe you’ll see a quick sell off of the assets( even the captain) and go strictly on youth. but if they hover around the 10th place mark they’ll keep everything the same.

my view is this team is a 10-12th place team right now. however this is under the assumption price plays like he did last year( which wasn’t bad by any stretch but wasn’t great; and at 6.5m a year i’m hoping for a much better year) and the powerplay continues to stink.

What really pisses me off was what was done in the off season by the habs. the whole thing we need to be tougher… fine, i get that but this team couldn’t score. balanced scoring and powerplay were the teams biggest shortfalls yet so may think this team will make the playoffs due to players being healthy and adding 2 3-4th line players.

this team will remain a pretender until gomez, bourque and kaberle are dealth or moved. some smart dude described insanity this way:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

It is Gionta’s size that makes him injury prone, take half of the habs in fact, are injury prone more so than most NHL players. There is a reason why we sign the likes of Gomez and Gionta, because they are injury prone and no one wants them, but they are flashy when they want to be, which appeals to the corporate mentality of Montreal. Montreal the last bastion of the boss man who doesn’t want a winner for fear of having to go to a press conference, most of all to piss off his Toronto based investors.

I’m done with Markov. He should be traded once he is healthy and shows some flash in the pan, before he goes back to being the lazy lacklustre defenseman who allows the other team to basically own the zone in front of Carey Price. Sign some real NHL players who actually believe in keeping the puck out of the net by defending the zone and the goalie!

PK is not in the same league as karlsson… Karlsson is much better defensively and that first pass out of the zone made MR spezza look really good this year. PK is really good but i don’t think he’s anywhere close to winning a norris trophy

I wouldn’t say he was worse than PK either. PK in both seasons as a hab has had terrible first half’s of the season where he has single handed cost the team numerous games with defensive gaffs. He has also been playing way more minutes that he should be at this stage of his career due to Montreal’s injuries.

Pk’s potential to be a great D man is there and he has the skill set but he still needs to develop in a lot of areas in his game. Picking his spots for example really needs improving. People are talking like he is an elite D man already who should be up for the norris…not even close

PK is in Karlsson’s league,and if the numbers don’t show that now they will in a couple of seasons.As far as the first pass out of the zone when PK is thinking and not taking chances his first pass out of the zone is excellent,if there was a 80-90 point scorer on the team,his points would be up as well.And as far as Karlsson being “much better” than PK defensively…especially in the second half of the season where PK played excellent defensive hockey..I would have to say you probably have watched neither player as much as you should to make that conclusion,or you’re a leaf/bruin fan.

To me I haven’t seen PK do anyting that warrants a 5 million dollar contract. He still has to earn his way to that status. The Habs should give him their ruotine two year contract. 2-3 million per year. By that time they’ll know if this guy is the money maker or just another good NHL defenseman. He did a great job last season filling in as #1 pairing and I’m sure he learned a lot. But no way I would feed him a big dollar yet. He’s going to be big for us, you can see it. Another diamond inthe rough.

They Call Me Shane
“They never asked to be Canadiens, they were Chosen.”
Shane Oliver
Twitter @Sholi2000http://www.Sholi2000.com
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i didn’t think price earned 6.5m a season but hey he has it. if you’re going long term you have to kinda buy out those UFA years. short term u can get him for less but run the risk of way overpaying in a ufa year. Use the price contract as an example. sign him long term at 5m a season and hope he plays like 6-7 towards the end of the deal. seeing what guys get paid now might not be too far off the mark in a few years.

Has anybody here seen Michelle Jenneke run the 100M hurdles? Maybe I’m late to this party but if this doesn’t get you up for the olympics nothing will. This woman is the first to win a gold in the 100M warmup. I’ll be pulling for her.

Agreed that this sort of thing isn’t good for hockey, but you can hardly blame Nashville. Would it be better for hockey if small-market teams acted as farm teams for the big boys and let their stars walk away without matching their RFA offers?

You can post all the facts you want. the bottom line we’ve been an average team for the past 19 years. the moves we’ve made thus far this year. making the playoffs is a maybe. the fans whom post here. I’m afraid it’s out of our hands. all we can do is sit back give Bergevin a chance with the young prospects we have in Hamilton, the next 5-years of drafting maybe a trade here or there and see where we are going. all the other teams are doing the same as we are doing. try to improve their team. which ever team does the best job will have a good chance of making the playoffs and as we witnessed this year. make the playoffs and anything can happen. which ever team plays the best in the playoffs will win the cup. being the best team in the league don’t prove anything. LA proved that point…..

LA winning proved that it can happen. It would have to happen more than once for it to be a trend. At the moment since the Conference format it is the first time that a team outside the top 10 has won the Cup. In that span, every team has been top 5 except 3 that were top and of course now LA who were 13th.

What LA proved beyond that is that a stacked young team can go all the way. It also showed that size and skill are a lethal combination. It also showed that Goaltending, although crucial, still can use some offensive power up front.

I will invoke an astute observation that TomNickle made. LA had 95 points. 95 points has been the bare minimum in that span as well.

So in conclusion, get 95 points in the regular season and anything can happen.

Back before I even knew about HIO I used to visit Robert L’s blog (as well as Habsworld.net) judiciously. It was in my early days of searching out information about the Habs that wasn’t mainstream. I was tired of the same-old same-old that made the pages of the mainstream media and press. I wanted some insights that weren’t candy coated with platitudes and pleasantries. It’s not that I wanted the dirt but just something that actually challenged and had the ability to have a semblance of critical thinking.

The blogosphere provides this perspective in abundance.

Just because you read something on the Internet doesn’t make it true but the Internet is still a useful tool for research, so if you google deep enough, you’ll find a plethora of information and/or many an insightful commentary.

Humans, even though we are capable of doing the stupidest of things, still show much sophistication by being able to write coherently and express ideas, whether in all seriousness or jest.

Which comes down to the crux of the matter; respect. Respect is earned not given. It is harder to come by than it is to lose. In order to respect others one must first be able to respect oneself.

“… The Sarnia Sting produced the first and third picks in the NHL Draft in Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk yet all I’m hearing this summer is how just about everyone who plays for coach Jacques Beaulieu wants out of there. ”

Does this mean AG will be driving hard to make the big club?

Or at least demand a trade from the Sting?

____________________________________________________
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“It’s just an opinion – I could be wrong”

A lot of good talk about how we can improve our team, but I honestly don’t think any of these ideas (free-agents, trades, call-ups, buy-outs) are going to help us win the cup.

When the old contracts have run their course in 2 years (Gomez, Gionta, Markov) many of our prospects will be entering the NHL as full-timers and our current youngsters (Pacs, Eller, DD, Emellin, Subban, Price) will be entering their prime.

I’m okay with any moves we make this year that don’t involve trading our key prospects (Galchenyuk, Collberg, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Ellis, Leblanc, Bournival, Gallagher, and Bozon).

I definitely think that cup runs, under the cap system, depend on having a large enough group of quality players who haven’t commanded UFA dollars yet.

I’m confident Timmins can architect a cup winning team so long as no G.M.s trade away his gems (McDonnaugh for Gomez…. someone shoot me!).

I don’t see the Habs power play improving much until they get a defence man that has an accurate cannon blast point shot. All the crisp passing in the world won’t convert pucks on their own. Habs need another Souray/Streit/Schneider/MAB/Wisniewski type of player.

It is so true….our powerplay always worked so well with the bomb from the point….be it Sreit, Souray, Wis, Schneider etc……I never really thought myself that Markov was the main focus of our PP`s success. Subban definately has a good shot…if only he had more accuracy……we definately have the set up guys in Markov and Kaberle.

We also don`t have the most skilled stick-handling guys who can work magic down low and on the side boards, a la Kovalev. I think in order to improve….they need to keep it simple….and get two guys in front of that net.

“I think I may have found a way for us to get Griffey and Bonds, and we really won’t have to give up much” -Costanza

if markov returns to form, and kaberle doesn’t play like crap we can look at pk to perform much better offensively this season. especially with those 2 setting him up. 20+ goals is very achievable for this kid.

adding boullion strengthens our defense by limiting the ice time of liable pairings (ie. weber, diaz, kaberle, emelin, markov? you get the picture)

going into 2012-13 the team has learned alot from last season and hopefully guys who earned their keep last year (emelin, pleks, eller, dd, cole, patches, budaj) are rewarded for their hard work and become increasingly effective players

It could be true that DD was insulated by having two power wingers, but that doesn’t diminish Desharnais’ offensive prowess and creativity and it is my perception that it was Desharnais that drove up the numbers of both Cole and Pacioretty, not the other way around.

A healthy Markov is potentially a huge plus for our blue line. Sure, he missed most of the games in our short memories, but he needed time to shake a tremendous amount of rust and get his skating legs back.

His biggest hurdle will be the mental aspect; trusting his knee to make the zero-point pivots if he gets burned at the blue line.

Very much agree about the PP improvement, but I’ll go out on a limb and say we’ll get double-digit improvement. Watching last year, we kept playing the perimeter, primarily passing to the four outside corners. Markov has great eyes and can threat those down-low-and-in feeds.

Stick Bourque in those dirty areas and let him poke ’em in. I really think this kid has more to add to the roster than what we saw last year.

My concern isn’t his talent. WE know he has it. The problem is speed…..But if he’s ready it will be a great PP with him and PK which could be enough to make the Habs dangerous……Lets face it, if a team has a great PP teams play you different, not so cocky and not so rude. Nobody cared if they took a penalty against the Habs in the last few years. But with Markov quarterbacking the PP and Pk to his left with 1 timers it makes a huge difference.
Go HABS Go

let’s face it. habs are a 1 line team, with a porous defence.
these type of teams finish in the cellar, which is exactly where we’ll finish, if MB doesn’t get off his butt and become aggressive like Holmgren.

yes I despise Holmgren but I give him kudos for being proactive and always doing everything possible to improve his team. he has a very young and exciting team that’s always in play for the cup.

habs on the other hand, are always hoping we squeeze into 8th place. that difference in mentality, keeps us in the bottom tier of the league.

The difference between Montreal and Philly is that Philly has done a tremendous job of both drafting and player development. This puts them in a position where they can move picks to add a Weber.

Bob Gainey was EXTREMELY proactive. He sold picks to add Tanguay and Lang, then more picks for Schneider, to put us over the top in 2009. Didn’t work. He was willing to move Price and Pleks + prospect to add Lecavalier. Fell through. He moved a promising young D-man to add Gomez. Disaster. He blew up the whole team and reconstructed it via free agency in 2009. Mixed results. But the idea that Montreal just sits on its butt and hopes to squeak in is totally false.

Indeed, our fundamental problem has NOT been that we’re too conservative. It’s that we haven’t gotten the fundamentals – especially player development – right. That is the lesson to take from Philadelphia’s attack on Nashville: if you get the fundamentals right, you’re dealing from a position of strength. We have not dealt from a position of true strength since 1996.

I assume the hiring spree by Bergevin in terms of former players to oversee development in Hamilton will eventually pay off in the long run. For the first time in forever, it seems the Habs have a coherent, long-term plan in place for their prospects. It will require patience on the part of fans, but I really think they are heading in the correct direction.

Habsavvy: You think Montreal will finish in the cellar. Stop comparing Holmgren (flavor of the day) with Bergevin. Two different teams, entirely different circumstances

Philadelphia play for the cup, but never win it.

Takes time to let players develop. Gomez and Kabrele comebacks should help. What would you say if D.D. and Plekanics went down to injury. Markov will comeback better then ever, last year was testing the knee and getting rid of the rust.

I look forward to the season and see the positives. Forget last year. Things change quickly sometimes. I see it as an interesting season. You can gloom and doom all you wish if it brings you pleasure.

You may be 100% right….doubtful….you may be 60% right…possibly. You may be 100% wrong….doubtful also.

You think if you sling enough mud, some will stick….now that is 100% right. If some of your dour predictions are wrong you will just ignore it and concentrate on saying “I told you so” on the correct ones…….on to your game, my friend.

Good morning!
I am following the discussion re our ‘declining’ status in the league based on our inability to get bigger names. Montreal may have its problems attractingthe ‘megastar’ but management is also very much to blame in failing to get off the free agent market players who fit special niches in or team and who would have moved us close to cometitive consistency, if not a cup.

Every analyst has said Montreal needs a big shutdown relable tough D-MAN. Not a superstar.

I cant see any explanation or reason to convince me that the team should not ave ALREADY addressed this need. There are sufficient player son the market who can be given a 1 to 2 year contract at a reasonable salary. They couldnt ALL have turned us down.

I see the signings of players like DIaz and Geoffrion and even Palushaj etc as what has ailed the team for the last while. We fil our roster with this type player who becomes neither highly trade-able nor highly productive. The are always ‘if’ players as far as production goes. And dont bring along witht that if specifically important ‘intangibles’ that add value to the team.

I challenge any poster to tell me what ‘unstocked’ value Palushaj, Diaz or Geoffrion brings to this team were we to take to the ice tomorrow.
Now if we had taken those dollars and gone out and added say a Scot Hannan, your answer would have been specific.

Hannan could not even carry Diaz’s jock strap. The other two are depth to play in Hamilton and be called up if needed with injuries. Palushaj IMO has peaked as a player. Geoffrion has some potential talent but I’m not sure if he has peaked yet, this year tells.

OK. I don’t care about Hannan. But the most pressing need (because we do not have a likely candidate in our system right NOW) is for an NGL experienced big d who has a competent level of skill and can play on the second pairing.

Anyone. While we groom Tinordi. St Louis has a nice UFA defenseman, Kent Huskins for example. It would be nice to know that we are really pursuing a player like that. Rememebr last year we could have had Sahane O’Brien who is now an integral part of Colorado and contributed well to their PP last year…. surprisingly so and they had him for a measly 1m.

Diaz may be better at skating being a mobile defenceman than Hannan, but that’s just it… he does not augment our defence with his skills more than Hannan will with his skills.

I can’t disagree with anything you’ve written Habsintrin. The club does need a move the pile dman but that’s not all that is needed. Many holes on this team. Hopefully the plugs will be either in Jr. or Hamilton this season. As for the three players you mentioned, all three are young players who perhaps may develop into more valued assets? Perhaps that’s the thought of the organization. Have a good one sir.

Many holes but if you look at our prospects we have players at least drafted with the potential to fill those holes. We do not have a player in the system now to fill that special hole except Tinordi who needs grooming.

Bergevin does know we need to be tougher Prust, Armstrong, are tougher

The Cube is quite tough., and he can play the role of a #5,6,7 d-man and play the body, work the front of the net, fight if he has to, experienced, cost efficient, loyal

the forwards Palushaj and Geoffrion are “depth” players, #12, #13, #14 forwards in the organisation. They are excellent AHL players but not quite capable of impacting an NHL game at a high level.

Diaz is an NHL player. You sign your NHL players and keep them unless there is a trade you can make., We don’t know, but I suspect that Diaz was possibly offered in a trade these past weeks. It didn’t come through.

Our new GM seems to understand the notion that the Habs need to be tough to play against.

He deserves some time to put the whole package together and then we can judge the results.

now ask yourself how many games did we lose because our PP was a disaster?

prust and armstrong, while good additions are not the players that are to put this team over the top or make us make the playoffs. if you think they are well, you’ll be disappointed at the end of the year.

I think that when a team wins everybody looks good. It has been 20 years since Montreal won anything. Nobody looks great.

There are 29 other teams. Most of them pay the players about the same. Sure taxes are a factor but so is quality of life. We all cheer for the Canadiens. Most players don’t cheer for the Canadiens. They go where the deal is the best because that is their business. Many stay with the team that developed them because that is where their friends and life are.

I don’t think you can just head out and buy anything you want when that thing has a choice. Sure you can trade for a player who would not otherwise have signed with your team and the player will do his PR thing but that won’t make a content player, family, or team.

Montreal starts winning and all the marginal players will become hidden gems. With NHL careers being as short as they are more players would consider Montreal. The adverse fan reaction minimizes because fans are happy. Everything changes.

Years ago when Montreal was always winning the fans would applaud good plays. They would boo bad plays. They always cheered for the Canadiens. Today they boo superstars making great plays and individuals on their own team trying to win. That is from frustration, understandable to an extent, but boorish.

Twenty years not to win the Cup when money isn’t a factor in a league where most teams lose money? I would say it isn’t one or two players that are the issue.

I hope and do think the new management team are the right guys to turn this around. Word will spread, the team will start to compete again, and all this angst will disappear.

MB made it very clear he wanted to add toughness up front and he did! He ended up with a couple of players that WON”T get pushed around and can contribute at the same time. SMART! I still think the Habs will try to move Gomez and probably to Nashville to fill their now huge gap to meet the cap! Its not like there are big names for the Preds to go after right now. Anyway its not like any big name player would want to go to Nashville right now so it may very well be a fit for Gomez. Maybe help rejuvenate him, help the Preds and relieve the Habs.

There’s not much of interest to comment on about the Canadiens these days and I fear HIO’s collective ability to offer informed opinion will become dulled should the news drought continue.
To keep your wits sharp until the Canadiens announce PK has signed a five-year deal, try this Habematics challenge. Answer the questions below and the first poster who supplies correct responses to both will be hailed as a true-bleu Habs fan who knows his/her stuff.

1.) Easy question (for fans who have been following the team for only 50 years):
– divide the number of Stanley Cup championships won by the Canadiens by the retired number worn by Dickie Moore ___, then
– add the team’s franchise record number of wins in the regular season ___, then
– subtract the most losses the Canadiens ever suffered in one season ___, then
– take away the number of goals Gomez scored this year ___, then
– divide by the number worn by Guy Lafleur ___, then
– add the number worn by the greatest centre ever to have played for the Canadiens ___, then
– add the most points recorded in the regular season by Le Petit Viking, ___, and, finally,
– multiply by the number of Art Ross trophies won by Rocket Richard ___

The answer is ___

2.) Difficult question (for real hardcore fans)
–– multiply the number of line combinations tried by Jacques Martin last season by the number of line combinations posted by fans ___, then
– subtract the number of PK trade rumours posted in the last two months ___, then
– add the number of times George Laraque fought as a Canadien ___, then
– divide by the square root of the number worn by Leon Rochefort ___, then
– subtract the speed of a Hal Gill slapshot ___, then
– add the number of forwards who have played for both the Leafs and the Canadiens ___, then
– subtract the number of defencemen who have NOT played for both the Leafs and the Canadiens ___ and, finally,
– multiply by the number of HIO posters who are certain the Canadiens will win the Stanley Cup next year

1. Hope that gave you my headache to put together.
2. For the number worn by the greatest centre of all time, due we use his present #11 or the #91 he wore when he was first acquired?
3. is the answer for the bonus question 3 and 5?

Question 2 is a trick question – allow me to explain;
Jacques Martin actually tried an infinite number of line combinations last season, and the fans likewise posted an infinite number of line combinations. It is impossible to multiply infinity by another number.

Fundamentally, we add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers. Infinity is a mathematical concept, but is not a number.

However, sometimes it can be meaningful to discuss these operations acting on numbers where one or more numbers are increasing without bound (“going to infinity”). For example, dividing a finite constant by such a number that is increasing without bound would result in something getting closer and closer to zero (to within any given \epsilon > 0).

\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{n} = 0

This is sometimes is stated crudely as

\frac{1}{\infty} = 0 .

While this semantic is icky, it does have meaning. but the following doesn’t:

(+\infty) + (-\infty) = ??

or

\frac{\infty}{\infty} = ??

What did I win?

__________________________
☞ The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. ~ Richard Feynman ☜

Q1 .. Dont think Maurice ever won the Art Ross.. off the top of m head.. that’s all I had to read .. so I say 0.

Q2…This question would put me in the same Coma sarek state that any Phan euf the Leafs is … so I pass.

Bonus: You mean there were bonus questions at the bottom of tests. I never managed to get that far into any test. Why would anyone want to ‘answer’ one more question in a test anyhow. I could never understand smart people.

Seeing what the flyers, Rags, and other big market teams are doing, I would be dissapointed if we do not make any more major moves before the beginning of the season. These teams are retaining big free agents, drawing up offer sheets, in essence being very proactive. In Montreal we are excited about getting Prust, Armstrong, and Bouillon (!) This is the freakin Montreal Canadiens we are talking about! The third biggest franchise in the league and the most prestigious one in the league.
No problem with Prust, nor even with the cube, but we aren´t big enough to go out and get a real top six left winger?
Bourque is on the second line, Armstrong possibly on the third, as it stands now. Sure, they COULD revive their careers and be meh o.k. (they won´t be great in any case), but they are much, much less of a sure thing than quite a few forwards out there obtainable either by FA or by trade.
Teams like LA, Rangers, Flyers, and even quite a few lesser teams would have made an aggressive move by now to fix the leak at the left wing position. We seem to have the mentality of a small market team by making small moves.
Perhaps MB is waiting to see the outcome of the new CBA, but then again, other teams have not stopped trying to improve themselves as much as possible in the meantime.

Taxes are a killer. Plus, you gotta figure some players don’t want the pressure of Montreal, and would rather go to a US city like NY and do their thing. Typical excuses, but they do carry some weight. Don’t overpay here, and you don’t get anyone.

Also, as of now at least, would you really want to come play in Montreal if you have no ties to the city and you see they’ve come off one of their worst seasons ever? If I’m Doan(Since he’s probably the 2nd line winger we all want), I don’t even look this way, being 35 and Cupless.

When the team becomes a winner in a few years(and it should, unless something goes horribly wrong), we’ll see more FA wanting to come here, but less actually being needed.

Realistically our next 2 seasons count for nothing. It’s the bulldogs we should be focusing on this year. Hamilton is absolutely stacked this year. Might be the most talented team in the AHL. In 2 years time they will be nhl ready. A large group maturing at once is how cups are won.

Add the amazing 2012 draft picks to the group we have in Hamilton this year, and the veteran core of the 2014 Habs (Price, Subban, Pacioretty, Pleks, Emellin, Eller, DD) and we have a potential powerhouse!

If we manage to draft high even one more time (in the next 2 years), I can’t even imagine the star power we will have.

Let’s keep the kids, develop them patiently and avoid any desperation trades that might vault us into a playoff spot this year (See Burke, Brian). I’d rather see us be a cup contender in the next 3-5 years than an annual play-off contender.

I wouldn`t go as far as saying they are stacked. They seem to have a better team but they have a bunch of players who have to step up from junior to AHL wich is probably the biggest step of all. They will play with men,for most of them need to put some weight on and try to duplicate the succes they had up until now in a pro league.

Let`s not forget that this is step one of the re-building of an organization with lots of adjustements to be made on and off the ice.Even in Hamilton we are starting from scratch .

I agree with you that it is promising and that for once the team seems to be aiming towards the future but the guys from Hamilton can only do so much as far as the big picture is concerned.

@HabSavvy
…I see the same of the Als …Reinebold’s D-make-over looks a shambles …both coverage and the defensive line
I disagree about Calvillo …His age and the dings are catching up to Him, but the Als would be still winning if they had a defence

@EnglishIsNotACrime
…excellent post to those Whom You say feel ‘entitled’ to debowel and dehumanize Our Players whom for whatever reason do not live up to Our bloated expectations
…I mean I Myself can be unhappy how a Hab plays, but within the bounds I also see that Player as a human being
…when You consider there are so called Habs’ Fan that will riot, turn over taxis, burn and loot, kick cops and fellow Fans in the head in Their irrational fandom, it says there is an element of ‘sickness’ in the collective of which I often feel embarrassment to be a part of
…I love My Team …I love and admire many knowledgeable and passionate fellow Habs Fans many of those here
…but, at the same time, I have contempt and extreme dislike of an irrational minority that makes me often embarrassed to also call Myself a Montreal Canadiens’ Fan
…so EINAC, Your rant is appreciated …unfortunately most of these numb nutz are too ‘thick’ to know what You are talkin’ about

I can’t imagine PK signing an offer sheet. Any reasonable offer would be matched immediately by Montreal and I just can’t see any team offering him Weber money – he hasn’t earned it yet. Even some Hjalmarsson (sp?) shenanigans seem unlikely as Montreal is nowhere near the salary cap so a Boston (fer instance) couldn’t force us to overpay him and put us in a cap-bind.

The Habs have Three new faces that’s about what you’ll see after training camp. pretty much the same team starting the season without injuries and a little tougher and as usual they’ll be fighting for a playoff spot again come 2013 or looking forward to another good draft pick…don’t set your expectations too high.

@Gerald
…My Guy gets the big juicy kind and seems pretty satisfied, but I will try Your suggestion
…and, in case You are wonderin’ …I am at a campground near Kelowna with The Kids …that’s why all the @s
…My Son, bored fishin’ wants to go find Josh’s and Carey’s homes …I ask Him if He would enjoy strangers prying into His own privacy …so He is back to conniving how to put ants in His sister’s running shoes
…anyhow, gotta go find a cool sports bar tv and watch the Als smoosh Your Tabbies 🙂
… Talk later 🙂

RIDERS ALL THE WAY! THEY ARE THE CLASS OF THE LEAGUE SO FAR! i have to agree the bombers are in for a long season with crystal pierce as their starting q.b. ………the aloutettes are my favorite team in the east and if the riders aren’t there i cheer for the lions because of roy shivers the best talent evalutor in cfl history!

…actually, rather hoping Gomer surprises Us this coming season …if He can just re-learn the object of the game is to put the biscuit behind the goalie His speed and dash is fun to watch
Yet, I remember hoping the same the past 2 summers 🙁

…funny about some of You Guys …Y’all talk about the same minutiae over and over and over My Golden Retriever doesn’t chew on the same bone as much as some of You
…ah but, maybe that’s why You are the Greatest Fans ? 🙂

Until you solve the disparity between the rich teams and the poor teams you wont get to the root of the problem

A new CBA might lead to further concessions from the players, and to closing some of the current loopholes, but as long as you have rich terams and poor teams, the rich teams will always seek out a new loophole to use their financial might to their advantage.

Initially I was on the fence about the decision, but as mentioned by others I think MB knows what he is doing. It seems he excels in this type of situation. His 1st year in Pittsburgh he took over a terrible team and was 14-29-8. The next year he was 47-24-11 for 105 pts. Granted the team he was taking over had more talent than the Habs, but he does get the best out of his players.

Awesome PK training video. You can see why he is so successfull and so durable. His body will be in top condition. Like Tiger Woods when he said he did not mind the heat because his body was in good condition from an intense training routine he does all the time. We had better sign this guy as he will perform at a high level for a long time. Better not let him get away. In the New York markets his celebration would become highlights that would be a marketers dream. They loved John MacEnroe and he was way more abrasive than PK. Americans understand the desire to win. Sign him for more than 3 years because if he grows in talent like I think he will we might not be able to afford him. And in terms of Don Cherry and his BS if he was coaching or a GM today who do you think would be first to sign him if he had the opportunity.

about coaching, it seems to me that Babcock sets the standard for modern day NHL coaching.

and here are 2 things about him that really stand out.

1) he adapts his coaching “style” according to the players on his roster

2) he is very “system oriented” in the defensive zone coverage, but he allows for creative, individual play when Detroit has the puck in the offensive zone.

when you combine these 2 aspects of his style you can see why so many want to play for Babcock and in Detroit, and why so many have success there.

somebody like the Count was forcing his square style through a round hole regardless of who was on his roster, and he insisted on restricting creativity even when his team owned the puck in the offensive zone.

end result: very few have great things to say about being coached by the Count, and many offensive players have seen their games struggle under his rule.

With PK about to sign in a week, all the pieces are on paper for the new coaching staff to assemble into lines and pairings. Once training camp starts in a little more than a month from now.

It will be a new look for sure and the kids and the vets will have to show well to get a high roster spot this year.

I am going to enjoy watching how this club is going to be put together this year. Only a very few players have a lock on top roster spots. Players like Gomez are still in the mix, until they show the new coaches that they cannot perform to expectations.

Like I said, this is a new coaching philosophy this year and under performing players for J. Martin, will probably just excel under the new coaching.

I have to admit Ian, I was not excited when I first heard about Therrien as coach. However, after listening to Bergevin talking about Therrien in a few interviews, I think he knows what he is doing. I think Therrien provides a quick fix per se, motivating the players to give there all and earn there ice time. If indeed Therrien has learned from past experiences (Mtl and Pitt.) he could be a good coach. If he has not, then he is a short term (2 seasons max) stopgap and by then a Gallant or somebody will be ready to step in.

While some players have worn out their welcome with most fans, this will be their last chance with a new coaching staff to show if they have anything.

The on ice look is quite similar but off ice it`s day and night.For the good of the team i think that we should not consider anyone as a keeper even if some are…We will need some roster spots for the youngsters in the upcoming seasons and now the current team has so many things to prove !

I have a bad feeling about the cba negociations though. I think there will be a delay before the begining of the season and i personaly hope the players win on every point. Although i think 99 % of the NHL players are way overpaid i cannot see how the owners would deserve for anything to change. They need self discipline and even though an offer sheet is within the rules , it is a stab in the back that should not exist between them.

But even if the NHL is on labour stoppage, i think that the Bulldogs and the Sting (Sarnia) will get our attention anyway !

“under performing players for J. Martin, will probably just excel under the new coaching.”

This was repeated twice. On what basis? Just as likely some players will do worse under Therrien than under JM. J Martin wasn´t some newbie coach who didn´t know what he was doing, I think he is in the top eight or so winningest coaches of all time. I don´t think the case can be made, convincingly, that Therrien is a more qualified coach than JM.
The problem last year was injuries, plain and simple. JM got 96 points out of the team the year before, also an injury plagued, though somewhat less so, year, and that was no mean feat.

Maybe not a great coach, but a competent one for sure. You have to respect the fact that he lasted long enough over many years to reach those totals. The significance of that should not be simply discarded. I´m all for giving Therrien a chance, I like his emotion, but his body of work is not substantial. He´s been out of work for a while, and probably not from his own volition.

I hear you Rhino, but couldn’t resist the chance to throw Ron Wilson under the bus like he has done to so many of his players.

As it pertains to JM, I think he is a decent coach, but perhaps not for the current era of players. While Gill and Spacek have their shortcomings and could have an axe to grind, the comments they made regarding JM’s coaching style sure left me wondering if he was even a decent coach.

I think Therrien could be o.k. in the short term at least because of his roots and no matter what people say it is an intangible which cannot be discarded. I´m not saying to hire a coach ONLY because he is french canadian, but if he can coach, having that profile is definitely a plus. It would be good if we had a couple more GOOD quebececois players besides DD as well (you can sort of count Bouillon) as I think there is a chance they could flourish with a homeboy coach. As you said, we shall see.

@commandant re previous post and the Forbes figures. Since the league or teams don’t provide these, then of course they will not be 100% accurate. However until that happens Forbes, as the leading Business media, will probably be the best bet for us lowly fans.

PS: and even if the league did provide figures. How accurate would they be without outside auditors?

But when we have seen actual numbers (and I’m not talking the Levitt report, we both know that was a joke, and owner produced propaganda). But actual auditted numbers, with creditors having a major interest in making sure they are accurate, we’ve seen that Forbes numbers are way off too.

This isn’t to say there is something better out there… its just to say we can’t trust Forbes numbers as the be all/end all either.

English is not a Crime comment is about the fantasy hockey fans, not about Gomez’ contribution to the team. All fans certainly are allowed their own opinions….even those who’s differ from your own arrogant comments.

He is absolutely not talking about fantasy hockey. The term “fantasy hockey” isn’t there in his post, and has nothing to do with his point. It’s all about fans, and there’s aren’t in fantasy hockey, FFS!

How many more ways can you possibly make a fool of yourself? I mean seriously PT. Is that all you got? Trolling this site and lashing at everybody and everything and then having the gall to insult one the Internet’s most respected Habs bloggers rather than engage in an intelligent debate with him. You’re a sad piece of work buddy.

PrimeTime, I know you’re not exactly trying here, but if you’re going to pretend to engage someone in conversation, a basic form of respect is to get their name right. You butchered Mr. Lefebvre’s name in your response, along with basic grammar. That alone signals to readers that your effort was half-assed, and that’s a poor reflection on you. Next time, refer to the posts and ensure proper spelling of your interlocutor, and read your post over before hitting the ‘Submit Comment’ button to ensure that it’s at least somewhat readable.

Not hammering you over apostrophes or commas or a spelling error here or there, but on your hurried and unrevised dog’s breakfast of a comment. Presentation counts.

It comes naturally to a Francophone, interlocuteur is a common word in French. I’m surprised there isn’t a similar word in English, a slightly less polysyllabic one that is in common use.

I once used the word ‘panoply’ to describe the assortment of sail and surfboard fins in a shop window in Hood River, and my friends held a mini public shaming. I gamely tried to explain it’s a really common word we’ll toss out in conversation in Montréal, then shut up and took my lumps.

I hear ya! Here’s my frustration – I renegotiated 9 different clauses in my book contract and was happy how that turned out. I never thought of the lockout. It’s a gonna be pretty sh*tty to have it come out when there’s no hockey being played. In hindsight, I wish I’d thought of some clause to that extent.

Modern families huh! Marry someone older with a kid and they marry young, someone older with a kid and you end up with a grandson that you are only 39 years older then. He plays HS football this year and I use him to hold people I want to hit with the cane…okay it is my mothers… but she will let me borrow it.

PS I do have 3 others, watch out for the little girl. With two older brothers, she has discovered how to physically demolish members of the male gender.

@Timo
much more easier to make a deal with Pk subban with 6M cap space than 14M cap space.
Therrien said hes going to coach subban and i dont think hes going to take back his words now unless he wants to make his credibility worse, wich is already fragile.
They have a month left,MB wont accept the first proposal just because he wants to keep Subban.Its Negotiation.
FYI, geoffrion and diaz may not
be pillars but they also arent useless.
1-Still didnt reach full potential
2-Trade Bait

“Capgeek calculates the Canadiens are $6.3 million under the cap – if you include Scott Gomez.”

What a strange thing to say? It’s also $6.3M if you include Price, Markov, Pacioretty, Cole or any other players on the team. This garbage of eating our own is really disgusting and frankly one of the biggest problems the Habs have. The so-called “fans” that would rather crucify their players than cheer for the team cause more harm to the club than anything. Get over the hard on for Gomez already, he’s a member of the team and would be better off if the so-called “fans” actually tried supporting him rather than burning him in effigy every night because he was handcuffed under the previous regime from Martin. No wonder no one wants to come play for the Habs, why would anyone with a sound mind want to play in front of some of these jackals? Go read the Stubbs interview with Gill again…. they were all amazed price stuck around to prove everyone wrong. These “fans” don’t deserve a winning team if they’re going to behave like this.

Sorry, Dude, but I gotta call you out on this. If you want to use lame excuses for Gomez, then good luck! He was no more handcuffed by Martin’s system than he was all his years in Jersey by Lemaire. Gomez gets the treatment he does because he’s earned it. It is evident to two million hockey fans in the city that his effort is lacking and you think he should be given a f*ck*ng free pass? Sorry, but rot is contagious. I’ll stick with the fans holding players up to certain standard of giving a sh*t.

“No wonder no one wants to come play for the Habs”

Now let’s see…free agents signed by Montreal in recent history. Prust, Cole, Cammalleri, Gionta, Gill, Spacek, Hamrlik, Moen x2, Budaj and a dozen others that have re-upped.

If better quality players aren’t signing in Montreal, it has to do ONLY with taxes and winning. The best FA’s sign with contenders and Habs aren’t there yet. For the record; the Canadiens organization has not thrown Gomez under the bus – he has a chance too earn a spot in camp like every other player. That treatment from the team actually scores points with FA’s. Many that come to Montreal do so because of its passionate fanbase.

The Stubbs article with Gill does not quote him as being amazed Price wanted to say, only that Gill, in Price’s shoes, would have left. Gill is also on record as loving Montreal and not wanting to be traded last season.

“Carey was over that when I got here in 2009. But after everyone turned on him that season and when (goalie Jaroslav) Halak was the end all, be all, the best thing ever, I said to Carey, “You must be excited to get out of here,” and he said, “No, I really want to make it work.” He wanted to stay after all that? I don’t know, he was stronger than I would have been. I’d have been, “I’m getting out of here, I can’t wait to go somewhere else.” He was awesome, I liked playing for him.”

Last but not least, there is freedom of expression in this country. Fans who pay tickets are free to express opinions on what they are paying for. While hounding Gomez does not improve the situation, that is how some Canadiens fans are, and have been forever. If you can’t live with it, there is a team full of pacifist fans in Toronto that accepts lower standards. See ya!

I’ll call you right back on it then. If you don’t think the horse crap certain “fans” dish out to Gomez, Price, Kaberle is above and beyond all reasonable treatment, you have no sense of reality whatsoever. These athletes that parade themselves for your amusement are real people, even if they make more money than you and they are going to respond to the way they are treated in the media, by the fans and so forth. Attacking them relentlessly like a pit bull on a bone isn’t going to do them or the team any good and constantly looking for the next victim to sink your overly entitled teeth into is only going to make many players that have other options look elsewhere and/or force the Habs to outbid teams with more sane fan bases for their services. You`re also the first ones to cry when Briere or Lecavalier opt to stay the hell out of this nut house.

You quoted Stubbs article with Gill, showing him state exactly the same amazement that I said he stated and somehow thought this was proving me wrong? However, I will add to this… you clearly know how to find the article, read the part Gill specifically references Gomez in. Sorry if I take Gill and Gomez’ team mates version of things over your’s, but they are far more credible sources as far as what goes on inside the room and on the ice than you are, even if you wrote a book and that somehow makes you think you’re the authority and are entitled. Frankly, when fans behave the way you are defending them for behaving, they don’t deserve the athletes killing themselves on the ice for their amusement. When bloggers or reporters speak about them in ways such as the one that prompted my original comment, they don’t deserve the interviews with the players when they get in their faces later. The same clowns always attacking Price relentlessly will be the ones sucking up to him if he were to win the cup. It’s disgusting to watch on a regular basis for those of us whoa ctually are fans of the team. We get it, you’re not happy with Gomez, Price, Kaberle (insert random target of the week here) but the crucifying of these players CONSTANTLY with every breath you take gets old for the rest of us who are fans of the team and get tired of hearing it all the time after awhile. If you want to be asshole fans, go cheer for the said Leafs (as you put it) and jump on their up and down bandwagon cheering McCabe, booing McCabe, cheering Kaberle, booing Kaberle, cheering Murphy, booing Murphy etc.

You have the right to be an ass on a daily basis and attack all the players for whatever reason, I have the right to call you on it once in a blue moon when it gets to the point that you make me sick to my stomach having to see the same nonsense over and over and over….. deal with it

“The message (from the coaching staff) was we need to play as a team with their system. I tried to preach it but the hard part was we didn’t play to guys’ strengths. With Gomez, you don’t expect him to chip it up the boards, you want him to come back and pick it up. If he can’t do that, he can’t be effective. With me, I have to do what I do.”

“I think the hard part for us as players is that we had a coaching change, but nothing changed. Gomer was excited: “Now we’re going to play!” That’s what you need, you have a coaching change and you go from the doghouse to a new life. Guys who weren’t in the doghouse say, “I have to prove myself.” That’s why you get a jump and everyone kind of picks up their game. But for whatever reason, Cunney said, “I believe in the system, let’s go with the system.” I like Cunney, I think he’s great. I just don’t know if he got to (call his own shots).”

Does this mean that was the only thing stiffling Gomez? No, of course not. Does the way the fans turned on him play a factor in it? Of course it does. Go read Roger Maris’ biography and see what he went through in 61, when Yank fans wanted Mantle to be the one that broke the record and try convincing anyone that the venom from the “fans” don’t affect players.

For the sake of making it easy, since you quoted this and thought it proved that Gill wasn’t amazed Price wanted to stay after all the idiot fans put him through for no valid reason….. the key words you somehow didn’t see when you cut and paste them were “He wanted to stay after all that?”. That is Gill expressing amazement that Price wanted to stay after all of that. Not difficult to read between those lines, since there weren’t any lines to read between there?????

why are they dragging their feet with Subban? Sheesh, useless pylons like Geoffrion and Diaz get signed and they haven’t even talk yet to PK. Could it be Therrien’s influence of not liking Subban spreading already?

There’s no need to rush. Much like Price two years ago, Subban’s got no intention of signing an offer sheet and wants to be as respectful of the process as possible. When the season starts (preferably on October 11th) nobody is going to worry a wink whether Subban signed his new contract on July 21st or August 31st.

Timo, it’s inaccurate to say they haven’t talked. We’ve heard over and over that the talks are happening, and that Don Meehan is busy with other contracts. The rest of your post is therefore also not factual and alarmist. There are better subjects to worry about, grounded in reality.

The other guys are seat fillers and probably just glad they got a contract so they didn’t take long. Depth is a problem on the Habs so Bergie was getting cheap plugins.

I’d assume PK is the last one because it’s a long term deal and the team hasn’t necessarily finished its shopping. If (by some incredible miracle) Doan were to be signed or (for the sake of argument) Semin, then I would think they’d need to bury Gomez first, etc, etc…

Point being, there are more variables in play with PK as he’s going to get a good chunk of what’s left and for many years.

In Stu’s article re Owners CBA Proposal, clearly Fehr will be taking the same approach as he did as with the MLBPA. Very interesting how he views it but it’s guaranteed the Owners have a different point of view. The PA’s counter and it’s structure will be a good indication if the upcoming season will be played in it’s entirety.

I don’t know how accurate this is but it’s being reported Nashville has put together an offer sheet for PK that includes $5 million a year for three years, a recording contract and a $37,000 singing bonus.

Great song list but I was surprised to see Am I Double Parked by the Curbstone of Your Heart? didn’t make the cut.
Or If You See Me Gettin’ Smaller, It’s Because I’m Leaving You
I Got In At 2 With a 10 And Woke Up At 10 With a 2
Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth Cuz I’m Kissin’ You Goodbye
I’ll Marry You Tomorrow But Let’s Honeymoon Tonight

Your Cheatin’ Offer Sheet
Stand by Your Team
I’m So Winsome I Could Cry
I Walk The Line (to the best offer)
Gold Miner’s Offer
I’m Moving On
(Money is) Always On My Mind
Walking The Floor Over to My New Team
Walk On By
Sixteen Tons of Money and I Signed
Take This Contract And Shove It

I am convinced that once they sit together they will reach a deal satisfying for both . And there will be money left ,not much but still a few millions if we feel the need to go and get someone .We are not one player away, a year maybe but we need patience ,luck and lots of efforts. It`s in the player`s hands.

Interesting that John Carlson of The Caps who also is a RFA and is not signed & would be comparable to Subban in talent (presently) and contract value. When one of them signs probably the other would also sign for about the same amount shortly after with the scale being set…….

Hey Phoenix has just ove 12 million in cap space to pick up with only one player to sign, before they reach the cap floor. Other teams are in a similar situation. Someone HAS to take Gomer, no?? please?

I think they’ll work out a nice little 3-year deal. It will take PK to age 25, and they can fully evaluate whether to go the long-term route (if that option still exists in 2015) at that time when he’s full established himself in the NHL as a top shelf defenceman.

I share your disconcertment and have lustily expressed my objections to the webmaster about posters wantonly straying into areas that have nothing to do with hockey, which goes against the very essence of what HIO is all about.
I intend to bring the matter up at the Summit, and know I can count on your support.